Went to a brewfest yesterday and tasted some really bad beer. And I'm not talking about watered down beer, I understand the need to appeal to the mass market. I tasted several that were astringent, medicinal, and full of off-flavors. So bad I had to pour them out. I'm curious how commercial beers can go to market when they are so poorly made. Do the brewers know their products are flawed?

With the rash of 'brew pubs' this is happining a lot. Many people that shouldn't be making beer are, because if it says 'craft' on it....people line up, hold up their pinky and say how great it is. Most of what I make is far superior (to me....and that's all that matters right?), than what most of the local places around here are putting out. I just got back from Colorado (wow, what a beer scene)....and the places around here are making mostly sh#$, and telling us it is great. MHO, thats all.

I live in the UK and the commercial beer is awful! Their seems to be a lot of real ale pubs closing down because people would rather drink watery yellow alcohol that gets them sloshed than decent beer that has taste!

Now that I think about it, the two that stick out in my mind (a rye mild ale and an amber) were both from brewpubs. I expect most brewpub beers to be watery, but I was surprised at how striking the off-flavors were in these.

I have had the occasional flawed sixer from some of the bigger craft brewers, but that isnt too often. Mistakes happen, even for the big guys.

That being said, Breweries are popping up all over the place. The craft breweries ive been to here in Denver are putting out some legit beer. I've noticed the beer from brew pubs - restaurants and breweries in one, in general arent as good as the smaller craft beer places that focus on beer alone. My guess is that they have to focus on the food more so than the beer to be successful. I think most of them will hire a guy who has been through a course to run the brewery. None of the courses I have looked at (and ive looked into several) go over how to truly formulate a recipe. They do cover science, systems and all though. This may be part of it. A guy running a brew pub might not have the best recipe sense, and is throwing in some off combinations resulting in off beer, compared to others. If the brewpub is corporate, the guy brewing the beer is just running the system. No creativity on their part, just corporate recipes, whether they are good or not.

I have also seen some brewpub systems being sold where they provide all the equipment, and some crash course training, then send you kits to make different beers for your restaurant. I doubt these kits produce award caliber beer, and operator error is more likely if the guy isnt a serious brewer. I think a lot of places outside of the big beer areas are going to run into this type of setup, at least for a while.

The beer boom is going, I'd sure like to get in on it, but its going to be like restaurants, where there are great ones, OK ones, and lousy ones. The consumers will sort it all out eventually.

Right,to make it,you need good beer and good food to be a good brewpub/probably good service as well.And you may as well make some good food with some of your good beer as well. As far as service,I appreciate when I ask about beer and the waitress doesnt know anything about the beers on tap that a manager comes out Knowing what they are talking about with beers on tap.It annoys me the servers dont know anything about them. Its their buisness,they should know.

Hate to say it because I enjoy them and they're a great local company, but I've had some bad stuff from Upland. A wheat that tasted like band-aids and a triple that tasted like nail polish remover. Yum! Usually their product is very good in my opinion though.